sonic youth represents perfectly the melancholia of the 90's when we used to have long blank spaces of time with nothing to do trying to fulfill it somehow before the anxious timeline & notifications era
yes that's how i remember the 1990s too - an innocent time, where we were forced to become acquainted with that most strange of individuals - ourselves.
In 1999 I was 18. The war just ended in my country (Serbia) and I moved to Hungary, Budapest to start my studies at the academy of fine arts. I used to listen to this song EVERY DAY while I was painting and drawing, preparing for applying to the art school. I was very happy that I'm achieving my dream. But because of what I had experienced with my family during the war I felt some kind of melancholy and sadness at the same time. This song answers perfectly to that dual state/mood...
@@Checkmate025 Hi! Yes, I became a visual artist (hope so 🙂), still in Hungary (mostly), doing my PHD studies at the academy of fine arts... sailing my own Diamond Sea. 🙂 Thank you for your interest.
one night was high as hell in a car with a really cool girl i met. i love crazy fuzzy wild noisy music but we hadn’t really discussed music yet. i give her the aux and she put THIS on. i’ll never forget her or that time.
Been SY fan from ca 1990. "Goo" was massive in sweet 1992. Had a soviet bootleg variant of Daydream nation on vinyl, they released in on single LP. First cassette i bought when i got behind the Iron Curtain (1994 trip to Sweden) was Sonic Youth´s "Dirty" as a first cassette. And "100 per cent" was prbably the most badass video MTV showed that time. Experimental set jet seemed thinner at the time, now i like some of it for its demoish quality. And was in love with "Superstar" and when Thurston went accoustic with violin. It all became rejuvenated after reading "Sonic life" - what a lush background to this. And now i discoveret this gem what seems to include all they stand for - many-layered improvations and noisy pop tunes with good old hooks. Bliss.
The last 12 minutes of this 20-minute song contain just a single chord, repeated over and over, with minimal variation. And Sonic Youth somehow manage to turn it into one of the most breathtaking things I’ve ever heard.
The idea stems from the last track of Thurston first solo album Psychic Hearts, It's called "Elegy for All the Dead Rock Stars" and it's 19:49 of strumming the same chords but in such a way that it feels always renewed and different.
There are many songs from other artists which are so great that I wish they would just repeat it over and over again but they just finish too early, and Sonic youth actually did it.
I owned a 1977 Datson Pickup Extend Cab when this came out. Blue with a white topper. You could see the road through the rust in the floor boards. I think I first had the tape, then the CD. Used to play this and just drive around NJ. Watching the road go by my feet as I did. I mounted 2 6×9 speakers on the metal bar on in the extended cab part. Blasted right into your soul.
This was the second CD I bought-in 8th grade/1996 (first was Mariah Carey). I had never heard Sonic Youth, I just thought the album art was cool. This song literally tore my world apart. It didn't occur to me before then that a song could be longer than 3 minutes, not to mention all the weird musical places it goes.
One particular evening in October 1995 my new roommate and I took a powerful dose of mushrooms. It was a a warm dry evening. You could hear the leaves rustle every so often when a breeze came thru. I remember this night because when we got back to the apartment, we put on the radio (no internet in those days) and among some of the other fine music to come over the wire, Sonic Youths the Diamond Sea was a hit, somehow... It is impossible to express how poignant the track was, listening on shrooms... But trust me when I say, I will never forget it as long as I shall live. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
The first time this girl I was talking to came over, she was impressed with my record collection. I played her favorite SY song (on Sister) while us both were high laying on my bed. Out of nowhere we start making out and things excelled fast! At one point The Diamond Sea was spinning. Now imagine sharing this surreal, intimate connection with someone and looking down to them and hearing "look into his eyes and you will see..." Her big round eyes looked right back up into mine and held there. Not sure if she caught this moment, but I did. Haven't forgot it... I shall cut the story there. Love this song and band.
"Now imagine sharing this surreal, intimate connection with someone..." Nope sorry, I'm not creative enough to imagine something I have no experience with.
Back in 97 (10th grade) I used to draw that washing machine on every notebook, yearbook, magazine or notepad I could find. The few that knew what it was became instant friends.
It's July 2022, 3 to 6 months ago, a guy who sells rock tshirts in the street near my house here in Rio De Janeiro had only one of this Tshirt, I Don't wear a rock Tshirt for at least 15 years. I was a little high and thought, "fuck, It's a Sonic Youth Tshirt!". Bought It. Every now and then I use It. Every time I wear It someone say turn to me and say: "Thats a hell of a album."
Every time I hear this it takes me to my happy place, 23 years old teaching English in Thailand. On sports day my students wanting me to play "traditional English songs" me realising that we no longer had traditional songs. I'd bought this on cassette a week or so before so put this on the classroom stereo. Transfixed, is all I can say. At the end I told my class to go home or go practice sports, "today's lesson ends here" Sends shivers down my spine and soul
"me realising that we no longer had traditional songs." Really? That was because you knew nothing. Why didn't you know about Richard & Linda Thompson, Martin Carthy, The Watersons, June Tabor, Anne Briggs, Steeleye Span, The Woods Band, Fairport Convention, Fotheringay, Sandy Denny, Bert Jansch, Pentangle, Strawbs, just to name a few?
@@apollomemories7399 A bit accusatory there ain't ya? Those artists you've listed may be traditional English songs but not well known, maybe what I should have said is that we no longer have traditional English songs that anyone can sing or even name upon being asked "sing us one of your traditional songs" except you, of course.
@@endcreditsNLO Quote: "but not well known." Good grief! You must have been living in a remote cave for the last 60 years. Perhaps it would be beneficial to you to learn of the Topic Records label, the oldest independent record company in the world, established in 1939. These artists you think are "not well known" are in fact very well known from Canada all the way to New Zealand. Fairport Convention host their own festival annually and is attended by patrons from all over the world. Martin Carthy has been a personal friend of Bob Dylan since 1962, from when Dylan first visited London in December 1962. Carthy has played all over US and Canada many times, as has Richard Thompson, who has toured north American since 1970 to this day. He was based in Santa Monica for many years as his wife managed the famous McCabe's Guitar Shop, a landmark for acoustic folk music since 1958. There are countless young artists carrying the traditional torch and you surely must have heard of The Unthanks, two sisters from England and Lankum from Dublin. I think you have a great deal to learn on this sunject.
@@apollomemories7399 you can post a wall of text that no cunt can be bothered to read, it ain't gonna help your lost cause though. However many artists and songs you say I must have heard don't count unless everyone knows them because they have been handed down, and given our history they should be centuries old rather than Steve Hillage wannabes from the'70s
This brings back so much emotion as an Asian kid growing up in Texas where I had music as my only friend. Thick glasses, big hair that I know not what to do with, nerd, no GF. The works... 30 years later, great kids, wife, house, boat, career, etc... But if I close my eyes, this takes me back to that room in Plano, TX... What a dream.
So you're saying that after your teenage days you fully bought into the upper middle-class dream that Sonic Youth rejected and that now, in your mid-life years you feel the need to brag online about your house, boat and career to somehow justify it??
@@Hammer2k11 Brag? Doesn't every American have a house, wife, kids and boat? Isn't that the American dream that I was raised to believe in? Justify what? That I went to college? That my responsible parents invested in me? That I'm still a hard lib who volunteers at homeless shelters and cleaning the streets in downtown Seattle? Should I apologize for the Friday nights spent with circuit boards and computers trying to finish my degree? NM all that. I'm growing tired of this life and want to sell the house and run away in an RV and live in the middle of nowhere thou. Maybe then that'll prove I'm one of you? Let me be me. I think Sonic Youth would approve that.
@@fearsomebunny Yeah brag. This video is about Sonic Youth, but you somehow felt the need to give us a list of your bourgeois accomplishments and then reacted defensively when I called you out. I don't judge you. America is doomed anyway and it's every man and woman for himself. I just find you funny and your understanding of Sonic Youth reminds me of a Nirvana song: He's the one Who likes all our pretty songs And he likes to sing along And he likes to shoot his gun But he knows not what it means Knows not what it means (that's you)
🪞 This song takes me right back to diving around Boulder with mom going to concerts, meeting someone outside a concert and falling in love. Then seeing 😢him again after all this time adter just missing each other for decades. There are a few of Thurson's songs that always tie me back to this momet ❤
3:14 - 3:26 is in my opinion one of the most beautiful guitar licks ever composed. I'll never forget tripping for the first time, laying back in my best friend's car and staring through the sunroof when that part kicked in, and the only way I can explain it was like the music threw an impossibly dense tungsten cannonball made of beauty and indescribable emotion right at my ribcage and said "Here, catch!" - and I barely could take it, it was one of those really rare moments where something was so gorgeous it sucked the air out of me.
In Fall 1995 I dropped out of university and moved to Amsterdam. Didnt know anybody there. I used to go for long walks alone and just get lost wandering the canals while listening to this song over and over on my walkman. Dreaming of the girl that I somehow let slip away...
Sometimes when the social connexion is becoming too much to bear, the only thing left to do is close yourself and let your heart beat itself into psychical nothingness. When I'm really down, this song gives me the strength to dive under the pain. I'm very grateful for it.
I saw Sonic Youth play this exact song live at the Summersault Festival in Adelaide on 5 January 1996 when i was 18. Still one of the BEST live experiences i have ever seen. Entrancing!
@@michaelwiseman6055 Melbourne Summersault here, haha. It was the first time I heard SY live, and I had been looking forward to it so much. All I remember is that they opened with Tom Violence and that the gig was underwhelming.
I love reading the cool comments on songs like these from people who lived through the 90s decade. I’m sick of the nostalgia making people bitter and complaining about life today but this comment section seems pretty chill. I’m still a teenager and thinking back to years like 1996 and so on seen so far away! Not trying to make you guys sound old lol but those times seem like such a far away time from such a young perspective. You all really loved through a lot so far. I wonder how I’ll feel in ten years or so about my own teenage years. Weird stuff. But sonic youth’s music really takes you places. It does. It’s timeless and heartfelt. I’m happy to have it with me all the time. I’m not sure how my generation would feel about it today.
Jenna, 90's were years of rebellious pure innocence ... the world was so different. The world without internet was spinning at a slow but intense pace, there was a lot of time for you to stay and think about life, nature, universe, relationships... them express it. I remember the first time I heard Nirvana and how it impacted my life. It was a time when sincerity was something very, very valuable among young people. People were more interested in what you had to offer from the inside, more than your image. So Kurt Cobain was loved, he represented that feeling of the time. I played in bands in the 90s like many teenagers, drank a lot, smoked a lot of pot, I camped a lot with my friends in nights watered by wine, pot and acoustic guitar. Looking back, was such a beautiful and innocent time. Well, I believe it is so with all generations, just good nostalgia :-) Enjoy your youth well, do not let other people judge who you sincerely are and who you want to become, be yourself and let the "herd". All the best for you.
Music from the 60s through the 90s exhibited a steady progression and improvement. Then the 2000s arrived and a massive creative short circuit occurred. Around 2015 I thought things were getting better, but I was wrong. I am incapable of imagining the musical shithole that will exist in 2040. Hopefully I will be in my grave before I hear it.
I love sonic youth I am a young teen like you. It reminds me of skateboarding in Santa Cruz, and my old girlfriend I had there. Not many other people our generation like this stuff though.
Jay Eff same with u bro..damn cool..but i listen first Seatle bands like pearjam nirvana soundgarden, i learned that s.youth was a mentor of nirvana...thats was damnnn cool
after 14:47 of song is becoming a splendid turmoil, a sublime chaos. It's very very difficult to compose such as this state of art. Just before the end of song, there is a serenity portrayal of crazy diamond sea.
This takes me back to junior high and my first girlfriend.. She had just moved to the town where I lived and she knew about all these bands that I had not really listened to. We would go to my house after school and get stoned and figure out how to play the songs we liked listening to so much. Never really could figure out how to play all this beautiful noise that Sonic Youth was recording but we still tried. 1995 was a good year.. sometimes the memories get hazy but then I listen to the music from that time period and I relive it all over again. Great stuff.
Time takes its crazy toll And how does your mirror grow You better watch yourself when you jump into it 'cause the mirror's gonna steal your soul I wonder how it came to be my friend That someone just like you has come again You'll never, never know how close you came Until you fall in love with the diamond rain Throw all his trash away Look out he's here to stay Your mirror's gonna crack when he breaks into it And you'll never never be the same Look into his eyes and you can see Why all the little kids are dressed in dreams I wonder how he's gonna make it back When he sees that you just know it's make-belief Blood crystalized as sand And now I hope you'll understand You reflected into his looking glass soul And now the mirror is your only friend Look into his eyes and you will see That men are not alone on the diamond sea Sail into the heart of the lonely storm And tell her that you'll love her eternally Time takes its crazy toll Mirror fallin' off the wall You better look out for the looking glass girl 'cause she's gonna take you for a fall Look into his eyes and you shall see Why everything is quiet and nothing's free I wonder how he's gonna make her smile When love is running wild on the diamond sea
I heard "The Diamond Sea" live at Sziget Festival '96, it remains one of my favorite, defining concert experiences ever, it was well nigh transcendental...
I listen to it every night before I fall a sleep. Sometimes if I have time I read "In Cold Blood" and than fall in tranquility of it all. For me it's like lullaby...
I can’t think of any other song that makes me feel the way this song makes me feel. The way this song builds in the last 12 minutes to that moment of utter chaos is just beautiful. Just put in headphones and stare at the ceiling
In the wings, i experienced sonic youth Perform this song @ summersalt Adelaide, Australia 1996 just like the album version, epic power poetry & beauty
Just beautiful. I got into Sonic Youth late. In ignorance, in the early 90's, I had a chance to see them play in Amherst but instead hitch-hiked hundreds of miles North to Ottawa to see the Vibrators play a totally lack lustre gig in a local bar. Silly me. I was in my 30's by the time I fell for this band. And it took me a couple years thereafter to appreciate this song. But now it's one of my faves. Sad that it's finally all over. But thanks for all the great albums. And thanks for this song.
No worries Jj, just enjoy the moment. I'll be 34 next month and I just got hooked on SY a few years ago. I grew up in a conservative area of Ohio and SY was waaayyyy...outside of the norm. Now I live in Dayton and alternative rock, i.e. the Pixies, Breeders and of course Guided By Voices, are my linchpins of rock and roll. Just roll with it and enjoy!
It's never too late Jj. I live in little ol' New Zealand I have to say Sonic Youth is the act I have seen the most times live... be it a smokey basement with a lazyboy and headphones or a summers day spent at the beach this song is nothing but good memories....
Cuando vuelva a escuchar esta obra maestra quiero recordar como me sentí este y los otros días pasados. Deseo de corazón que al volver este pasando por mejores momentos y días.
Quand tout démarre.Progression musicale éruptive.Intensité sous-jascente,envol, basse et contre-chants. Ou le premier gros riff qui défouraille,retourne l'estomac jusqu'aux outrages ultimes et voilà le hachoir-tomates en pleine mise en place, délicates de sons INOUÏS de stridence, de percus ajustées et autres guitares sans voix. Une accalmie selon nos folies enregistrées. Un cliquetis avant l'envol de la lave. Nos écoutilles à jouir, nos perceptions,si diverses. Des vibrations ou nôtres. Impossible d'ajouter des mots à la musique. J'y parviens selon une faconde .Modeste. Un régal de nos inspirations à hurler. Mon super-dégueuloir. Jusqu’au tréfonds de nos turpitudes créatrices. Je suis triste que les yo ignorants aies retenus une attention particulière, c'est ainsi...L'essentiel est surtout ailleurs. Juste écouter. Musique Maestro. La vôtre qui devient mienne. Ce volcan.Aux larmes incandescentes. Quand la musique brûle, à condition de la capter.Etre heureux. Juste écouter ce plaisir chaotique. Frénésie. Nos corps à la transe.
Many years later I rediscovered this on a mini disc player. Memories and music from years past rediscovered. Does not hold a candle to what is on terrestrial radio today. I am 61 and still love it.
I forgot i even had music on. I was busy being productive for once 👍👍👍👍👍👍 now its on smooth sailing spaceship mode. Cruisin broadway in outer space. Before i think too deep in that ill go back to gettin er done! Thanx man 💋❤
i listened to this album as a tape, on constant repeat, on a Walkman, in 1996 when finishing my honours Engineering thesis ... i got it done, and so did Sonic Youth. I salute them - this music is still majestic, epic, engrossing and visceral, 25 years later.
It warms my heart to read all of these related stories in the comment section. As for me - it's simply the best tune of the 90s. Legendary band, an everlasting wellspring of wilderness and creativity, and a late gem of the true underground.
Un truc de dingue dés lors que la voix finis et rejaillis par bonheur et joie. My daugther propose me her sound ,that sound, i hear that sound, découverte intégrale and i discover " la mère de diamants". L'amer ou la mer de sels gemmes, jeux de mots idiots. Tiraillez les sons, Garçons .Rompre. Le délire progressif survient. Harmonies contenues. Expérimentations. La tête, au fur et à mesure; celle qui s'envole. Stridences et vrombissements en appoint, un contre-chant puis l'incroyable chaos savamment orchestré. Putain!!!!!Que c'est bon . Un embryon écervelé, lavé de toutes certitudes .Energies en guitares pleines, entières, défouraillantes!!! superbe inspiration. Un groupe et sa composition. En avant. Musique!!!
Epic song. The controlled noise interlude is awesome, and then the song wraps itself back around. I love Sonic and that they allow their songs to breathe in and out.
Your user name -a1 is the word I have been trying to figure out from my husband's hearsay how to spell and pronounce for the last 19 years. I searched Italian dictionaries for him with no success.
This is probably my favorite track of Sonic Youth from that era. First listening to this some 25 years ago I wan't fond of the melody of the first part, then it got to me, but I've ALWAYS LOVED the impro of the last part of this track. Epic and damaging. Love it.
I had this cd given to me with a bunch of old bad cds,unless you like amateur local music. it only added to the moment, when after sime sifting through garbage, I found this.
The Diamond Sea seems like a surreal metaphor for schizophrenia. This song is obviously extremely schizophrenic. It starts with a moderate beat and has a mental break and things seem to slow down and become very spacey and it makes you feel like things are unreal. I read somewhere that if Kim would have taken the helm on this track it wouild be stretched out much longer probably a whole hour long. You can thank Kim Gordon for these super long passages of unprepared noise bliss. Thurston was more straight forward and liked the fast punk/noise/pop aspects more than the long passages like you would hear here. This is right up there with Too and Dirty for 90s albums. Though A Thousand Leaves has Instrumental passages they're nothing like this. This song does have a youthful yet pessimistic sound and I can picture someone swimming in a sea of gems, it's weird. I guess it would be a hallucination.
Wonderfully written, Kaylyn. It takes so many directions really, I guess that counts for the 'schizo' part in some ways - it's a sound painting that demands a lot off you and grabs you by the pores, and yet it's pure beauty. Whether it's a surreal metaphor for schizophrenia, I wouldn't know. I wouldn't like it to be, really. But it's one hell of a moment in the soundtrack of one's life.
Great analysis of the song, however, it was actually Thurston who was more of a fan of longer and less straight-forward songs, despite also liking the punkier ones too! To quote him: "If I was the leader as much as people say I am, every song would be 20 minutes long."
I've always looked upon the song title from the point of view of the old Buddhist metaphor of the Diamond Sea as the cosmic ocean of being...makes just as much sense I think...nice analogy tho'...cheers.
sonic youth represents perfectly the melancholia of the 90's when we used to have long blank spaces of time with nothing to do trying to fulfill it somehow before the anxious timeline & notifications era
Well said.
Well said
Well sai
at that time it was still possible to think that the world had at least a shadow of meaning...
yes that's how i remember the 1990s too - an innocent time, where we were forced to become acquainted with that most strange of individuals - ourselves.
My dad's favorite sonic youth song. That he showed me. Miss him
That's mine too, a great dad you had.
big ups to your dad
Im a Dad we are passing it along
This is my favorite. I hope my boys like it someday.
Miss my pops too man. Word, stay up
In 1999 I was 18. The war just ended in my country (Serbia) and I moved to Hungary, Budapest to start my studies at the academy of fine arts. I used to listen to this song EVERY DAY while I was painting and drawing, preparing for applying to the art school. I was very happy that I'm achieving my dream. But because of what I had experienced with my family during the war I felt some kind of melancholy and sadness at the same time. This song answers perfectly to that dual state/mood...
**ecstatic peace**
thanks for sharing 🌞🎃
Interesting story. How did you further progress? are you an artist now? Still in Hungary?
@@Checkmate025 Hi! Yes, I became a visual artist (hope so 🙂), still in Hungary (mostly), doing my PHD studies at the academy of fine arts... sailing my own Diamond Sea. 🙂 Thank you for your interest.
@@miksolt well done. All the best!
I had that shirt in high school. It was destroyed by the washing machine.
Stahl Beton Talk about irony, right?
Jajajjajajaj that's so cool
THERE ARE DOZENS OF US. DOZENS!
My washing machine was destroyed by that shirt.
@@melonpigeon6641 haha
One of Sonic Youth's most epic beautifully written tracks....great vocal, great lyrics...timeless
Indeed
This isn't a song. It's an experience.
Fourth Dimensional Sound
We are aliens
So true.
With this sound we are inside in a surrealistic black hole...
Ethereal.
one night was high as hell in a car with a really cool girl i met. i love crazy fuzzy wild noisy music but we hadn’t really discussed music yet. i give her the aux and she put THIS on. i’ll never forget her or that time.
triping with a girl in the night listening SY, lucky boy!!!
Been SY fan from ca 1990. "Goo" was massive in sweet 1992. Had a soviet bootleg variant of Daydream nation on vinyl, they released in on single LP. First cassette i bought when i got behind the Iron Curtain (1994 trip to Sweden) was Sonic Youth´s "Dirty" as a first cassette. And "100 per cent" was prbably the most badass video MTV showed that time. Experimental set jet seemed thinner at the time, now i like some of it for its demoish quality. And was in love with "Superstar" and when Thurston went accoustic with violin. It all became rejuvenated after reading "Sonic life" - what a lush background to this. And now i discoveret this gem what seems to include all they stand for - many-layered improvations and noisy pop tunes with good old hooks. Bliss.
The last 12 minutes of this 20-minute song contain just a single chord, repeated over and over, with minimal variation. And Sonic Youth somehow manage to turn it into one of the most breathtaking things I’ve ever heard.
Right?
well i'm not sonic youth...but i do love them....and you may just hear something you like ua-cam.com/video/bCnocG3ZzoQ/v-deo.html
The idea stems from the last track of Thurston first solo album Psychic Hearts, It's called "Elegy for All the Dead Rock Stars" and it's 19:49 of strumming the same chords but in such a way that it feels always renewed and different.
There are many songs from other artists which are so great that I wish they would just repeat it over and over again but they just finish too early, and Sonic youth actually did it.
30% Singing
70% Diamond Sea
+Acekiller Mercer 100% Chill
+Esbelis Geraldino 100% of my love - up to you true star
Oh wait... wrong album. Sorry.
Washing Machine is so much better than Dirty anyway.
Omg...I actually understood that! HaHa
i love both equally :-)
Mhmmmmmm yum
I owned a 1977 Datson Pickup Extend Cab when this came out. Blue with a white topper. You could see the road through the rust in the floor boards. I think I first had the tape, then the CD. Used to play this and just drive around NJ. Watching the road go by my feet as I did. I mounted 2 6×9 speakers on the metal bar on in the extended cab part. Blasted right into your soul.
Wow!
I finally found the time to listen to this tune in its entirety. What a ride.
you gotta work on your life priorities
This was the second CD I bought-in 8th grade/1996 (first was Mariah Carey). I had never heard Sonic Youth, I just thought the album art was cool. This song literally tore my world apart. It didn't occur to me before then that a song could be longer than 3 minutes, not to mention all the weird musical places it goes.
thanks for yr. comment!
Wow! That must have been a hell of an experience. :D
Wow. To go from Mariah to Sonic Youth must have been quite a rip in the fabric of your conciousness.
really, give thanks for that, you're human now
Hehe, around 1994 I went from a Bart Simpson CD to In Utero, that was eye-opening for a 12 year old.
I’ve always loved that sound at 19:17, like the amp said “I can’t do anything more.”
One particular evening in October 1995 my new roommate and I took a powerful dose of mushrooms.
It was a a warm dry evening. You could hear the leaves rustle every so often when a breeze came thru.
I remember this night because when we got back to the apartment, we put on the radio (no internet in those days) and among some of the other fine music to come over the wire, Sonic Youths the Diamond Sea was a hit, somehow...
It is impossible to express how poignant the track was, listening on shrooms... But trust me when I say, I will never forget it as long as I shall live.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Does being high on shrooms make you feel euphoric?
The first time this girl I was talking to came over, she was impressed with my record collection. I played her favorite SY song (on Sister) while us both were high laying on my bed. Out of nowhere we start making out and things excelled fast! At one point The Diamond Sea was spinning. Now imagine sharing this surreal, intimate connection with someone and looking down to them and hearing "look into his eyes and you will see..." Her big round eyes looked right back up into mine and held there. Not sure if she caught this moment, but I did. Haven't forgot it... I shall cut the story there. Love this song and band.
I hope it's "Pacific Coast Highway" but it's probably "Kotton Krown".
"Now imagine sharing this surreal, intimate connection with someone..."
Nope sorry, I'm not creative enough to imagine something I have no experience with.
Back in 97 (10th grade) I used to draw that washing machine on every notebook, yearbook, magazine or notepad I could find. The few that knew what it was became instant friends.
It's July 2022, 3 to 6 months ago, a guy who sells rock tshirts in the street near my house here in Rio De Janeiro had only one of this Tshirt, I Don't wear a rock Tshirt for at least 15 years. I was a little high and thought, "fuck, It's a Sonic Youth Tshirt!". Bought It. Every now and then I use It. Every time I wear It someone say turn to me and say: "Thats a hell of a album."
I used to be crazy about this song in the 90's. They actually played this on the radio.
And mtv also but the shortened version. I wouldn’t bother looking it up...
Would be interesting if they played the whole thing on the radio
Now they cut every song over 4 minutes down.. smh
@@drillbit8280 now every song played on radio has to be short and snappy. dont forget the brain frying autotune and repetitive meaningless lyrics.
90's were awesome
Crazy how iconic the yoyo sound is for this song considering its only present for less than 40 seconds out of 19 and a half minutes
I keep missing it, where is it in the song?
@@jaiaramirez9726 I just mean the weird effect in the first 40 seconds that sounds like the guitar is saying yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyo
It comes back at around 8:15. The effect is called Phaser.
@@user-og6hl6lv7p it's a formant filter
@@user-og6hl6lv7p wait it's a different effect the second time
This album altered my DNA
this song is healing. my friend tuned me in and then he left this world shortly after. this song keeps him around for me.
thats nice to hear
I love you
Nice ❤
I remember serving the whole band breakfast. I was like holy fuck, that's sonic youth.
whoa
@Arthur Frayn ya but its Sonic youth.
Every time I hear this it takes me to my happy place, 23 years old teaching English in Thailand. On sports day my students wanting me to play "traditional English songs" me realising that we no longer had traditional songs. I'd bought this on cassette a week or so before so put this on the classroom stereo. Transfixed, is all I can say. At the end I told my class to go home or go practice sports, "today's lesson ends here"
Sends shivers down my spine and soul
"me realising that we no longer had traditional songs." Really? That was because you knew nothing. Why didn't you know about Richard & Linda Thompson, Martin Carthy, The Watersons, June Tabor, Anne Briggs, Steeleye Span, The Woods Band, Fairport Convention, Fotheringay, Sandy Denny, Bert Jansch, Pentangle, Strawbs, just to name a few?
@@apollomemories7399 A bit accusatory there ain't ya? Those artists you've listed may be traditional English songs but not well known, maybe what I should have said is that we no longer have traditional English songs that anyone can sing or even name upon being asked "sing us one of your traditional songs" except you, of course.
@@endcreditsNLO Quote: "but not well known." Good grief! You must have been living in a remote cave for the last 60 years. Perhaps it would be beneficial to you to learn of the Topic Records label, the oldest independent record company in the world, established in 1939. These artists you think are "not well known" are in fact very well known from Canada all the way to New Zealand. Fairport Convention host their own festival annually and is attended by patrons from all over the world. Martin Carthy has been a personal friend of Bob Dylan since 1962, from when Dylan first visited London in December 1962. Carthy has played all over US and Canada many times, as has Richard Thompson, who has toured north American since 1970 to this day. He was based in Santa Monica for many years as his wife managed the famous McCabe's Guitar Shop, a landmark for acoustic folk music since 1958.
There are countless young artists carrying the traditional torch and you surely must have heard of The Unthanks, two sisters from England and Lankum from Dublin.
I think you have a great deal to learn on this sunject.
@@apollomemories7399 you can post a wall of text that no cunt can be bothered to read, it ain't gonna help your lost cause though. However many artists and songs you say I must have heard don't count unless everyone knows them because they have been handed down, and given our history they should be centuries old rather than Steve Hillage wannabes from the'70s
@@apollomemories7399got quite an eclectic taste in music but never heard of any of those.
This brings back so much emotion as an Asian kid growing up in Texas where I had music as my only friend.
Thick glasses, big hair that I know not what to do with, nerd, no GF. The works...
30 years later, great kids, wife, house, boat, career, etc...
But if I close my eyes, this takes me back to that room in Plano, TX... What a dream.
Amazing
So you're saying that after your teenage days you fully bought into the upper middle-class dream that Sonic Youth rejected and that now, in your mid-life years you feel the need to brag online about your house, boat and career to somehow justify it??
@@Hammer2k11 Brag? Doesn't every American have a house, wife, kids and boat? Isn't that the American dream that I was raised to believe in? Justify what? That I went to college? That my responsible parents invested in me? That I'm still a hard lib who volunteers at homeless shelters and cleaning the streets in downtown Seattle? Should I apologize for the Friday nights spent with circuit boards and computers trying to finish my degree? NM all that. I'm growing tired of this life and want to sell the house and run away in an RV and live in the middle of nowhere thou. Maybe then that'll prove I'm one of you? Let me be me. I think Sonic Youth would approve that.
I feel this. I totally get you. Don't listen to the haters that wouldn't get it.
@@fearsomebunny Yeah brag. This video is about Sonic Youth, but you somehow felt the need to give us a list of your bourgeois accomplishments and then reacted defensively when I called you out.
I don't judge you. America is doomed anyway and it's every man and woman for himself. I just find you funny and your understanding of Sonic Youth reminds me of a Nirvana song:
He's the one
Who likes all our pretty songs
And he likes to sing along
And he likes to shoot his gun
But he knows not what it means
Knows not what it means
(that's you)
That shirt was the best example that back in the 90s, as long as it said Sonic Youth on it, it was cool, no matter how it looked
That segment from 0.01 to 19.34 is just soo awesome!
no its a nice piece
Reading that just made my day
0:00
Whats so bad about 19:34 - 19:36 ?
@@arch_dornan6066 it's just absolutely dreadful. 00:00 - 19:34 is clearly superior
🪞 This song takes me right back to diving around Boulder with mom going to concerts, meeting someone outside a concert and falling in love. Then seeing 😢him again after all this time adter just missing each other for decades. There are a few of Thurson's songs that always tie me back to this momet ❤
3:14 - 3:26 is in my opinion one of the most beautiful guitar licks ever composed. I'll never forget tripping for the first time, laying back in my best friend's car and staring through the sunroof when that part kicked in, and the only way I can explain it was like the music threw an impossibly dense tungsten cannonball made of beauty and indescribable emotion right at my ribcage and said "Here, catch!" - and I barely could take it, it was one of those really rare moments where something was so gorgeous it sucked the air out of me.
Yeah that lick... the 90s
So beautiful. Rare chance you had there 🌊
this, with different words
Damn, that's beautiful..
I understand....this had a similar effect on me..I made it about a year ago...ua-cam.com/video/h_g8X0q5cyM/v-deo.html
I saw them perform this in the 90s at Lollapalooza. I wasn’t high, but felt very high. Lolll great experience
I feel high now for some reason.....LOL
What up from Victoria Canada!
Shades of Shine On You Crazy Diamond.
Holy S....I totally forgot about this song. Brought tears to my eyes listening to it. Represented such a weird time in my youth. Wow...the feels.
Juliet Tyler It sure does bring back distant memories, a lifetime ago already 😳
same
I echo your sentiments verbatim!
I totally just cried coming across this too! All the other comments got me. So many other ppl that feel the same way about this band!
In Fall 1995 I dropped out of university and moved to Amsterdam. Didnt know anybody there. I used to go for long walks alone and just get lost wandering the canals while listening to this song over and over on my walkman. Dreaming of the girl that I somehow let slip away...
Play this at my funeral. All of it.
And put psylocibin in all the hors doeuvres. Those that attended you're passing would be changed.
@@adamnelson4859 forever changed haha
i'll be the stranger playing this at your funeral
@@KM-zw9qb thanks K M. Won't be for a while yet hopefully ; )
Same.
Reading 1996. 17 years old. Mind blown.
Sometimes when the social connexion is becoming too much to bear, the only thing left to do is close yourself and let your heart beat itself into psychical nothingness. When I'm really down, this song gives me the strength to dive under the pain. I'm very grateful for it.
I hear ya red sun
I saw Sonic Youth play this exact song live at the Summersault Festival in Adelaide on 5 January 1996 when i was 18. Still one of the BEST live experiences i have ever seen. Entrancing!
I went to the Sydney Summersault Festival at Macquarie Uni, 31/12/1995 it was the first time I saw Foo Fighters and Sonic Youth
@@michaelwiseman6055 Melbourne Summersault here, haha. It was the first time I heard SY live, and I had been looking forward to it so much. All I remember is that they opened with Tom Violence and that the gig was underwhelming.
adelaide gang
I love reading the cool comments on songs like these from people who lived through the 90s decade. I’m sick of the nostalgia making people bitter and complaining about life today but this comment section seems pretty chill. I’m still a teenager and thinking back to years like 1996 and so on seen so far away! Not trying to make you guys sound old lol but those times seem like such a far away time from such a young perspective. You all really loved through a lot so far. I wonder how I’ll feel in ten years or so about my own teenage years. Weird stuff. But sonic youth’s music really takes you places. It does. It’s timeless and heartfelt. I’m happy to have it with me all the time. I’m not sure how my generation would feel about it today.
Jenna, 90's were years of rebellious pure innocence ... the world was so different. The world without internet was spinning at a slow but intense pace, there was a lot of time for you to stay and think about life, nature, universe, relationships... them express it. I remember the first time I heard Nirvana and how it impacted my life. It was a time when sincerity was something very, very valuable among young people. People were more interested in what you had to offer from the inside, more than your image. So Kurt Cobain was loved, he represented that feeling of the time. I played in bands in the 90s like many teenagers, drank a lot, smoked a lot of pot, I camped a lot with my friends in nights watered by wine, pot and acoustic guitar. Looking back, was such a beautiful and innocent time. Well, I believe it is so with all generations, just good nostalgia :-) Enjoy your youth well, do not let other people judge who you sincerely are and who you want to become, be yourself and let the "herd". All the best for you.
The 90s was a shitty time but listening to Sonic Youth made things a bit better and more tolerable.
Music from the 60s through the 90s exhibited a steady progression and improvement. Then the 2000s arrived and a massive creative short circuit occurred. Around 2015 I thought things were getting better, but I was wrong. I am incapable of imagining the musical shithole that will exist in 2040. Hopefully I will be in my grave before I hear it.
André ..amen!
I love sonic youth I am a young teen like you. It reminds me of skateboarding in Santa Cruz, and my old girlfriend I had there. Not many other people our generation like this stuff though.
Love listening to this song. Just turn the lights out, put the headphones on and space out.
space out....yeah..i'm all about that.........this is me at 50% space-out capacity ua-cam.com/video/bCnocG3ZzoQ/v-deo.html
My mum got me that t-shirt for me when I was a baby. PS I have the coolest mum of all time.
+Judah Cook I would say so!!!
+Jeff Ramos : Cooking* your mom
lol
I had one too but I was 16
wish my mum had done the same for me :)
I got this one tooooo!!! well i had it!!!!! bought it when i was 13 m went to watch em live!!!!!! in the 90´s!!!!
When I was 13 my favorite was “Schizophrenia”. Now at 18 it’s The Diamond Sea. Time takes it’s crazy toll
my favourite now is schizophrenia, aha. maybe it'll change to this too.
hello fellow adult.
schizophrenia, diamond sea and teenage riot are easily some of their best songs
2
@@charlieblfa9303 never forget 100%
I listened this song on acid and this fucking melted me and chopped in the pieces
gonna do it again
the FBI wants to know your location
One if the best songs on earth.
Thanks Sonic Youth
this may be 1 of the best songs ever as well.....ua-cam.com/video/bCnocG3ZzoQ/v-deo.html
the best sonic youth song ever
...so far...
Chente fuck off
Daniel García Torres what?
@@thENDweDIE There will more than likely never be anymore songs from them
Drifter816 ...of corse...we're not worthy
This song is like a trip.
Song reminds me of being in high school.
Song reminds me of being high in school.
Jay Eff same with u bro..damn cool..but i listen first Seatle bands like pearjam nirvana soundgarden, i learned that s.youth was a mentor of nirvana...thats was damnnn cool
it reminds me of my ex :c
I literally used to fall asleep to this when I was a teenager
sonic youth is one of the all time greats
this is a classic
after 14:47 of song is becoming a splendid turmoil, a sublime chaos. It's very very difficult to compose such as this state of art. Just before the end of song, there is a serenity portrayal of crazy diamond sea.
Wow I just heard this for the first time today and this song is fucking amazing. I wish i had found this sooner.
I just heard this song for the first time today.
This song is the best song to listen to while high. Oh how it's an adventure... this whole album, man... it's why it's my favourite SY album.
This takes me back to junior high and my first girlfriend.. She had just moved to the town where I lived and she knew about all these bands that I had not really listened to. We would go to my house after school and get stoned and figure out how to play the songs we liked listening to so much. Never really could figure out how to play all this beautiful noise that Sonic Youth was recording but we still tried. 1995 was a good year.. sometimes the memories get hazy but then I listen to the music from that time period and I relive it all over again. Great stuff.
Awesome !!
tfw never had a gf, your post hurts...
damn, those are some good teenage memories man. I'm still living through mine right now, but I hope there as sweet to look back on as yours.
Yep, 1995 - the best 3 weeks of my life.
I hope you married that girl
Time takes its crazy toll
And how does your mirror grow
You better watch yourself when you jump into it
'cause the mirror's gonna steal your soul
I wonder how it came to be my friend
That someone just like you has come again
You'll never, never know how close you came
Until you fall in love with the diamond rain
Throw all his trash away
Look out he's here to stay
Your mirror's gonna crack when he breaks into it
And you'll never never be the same
Look into his eyes and you can see
Why all the little kids are dressed in dreams
I wonder how he's gonna make it back
When he sees that you just know it's make-belief
Blood crystalized as sand
And now I hope you'll understand
You reflected into his looking glass soul
And now the mirror is your only friend
Look into his eyes and you will see
That men are not alone on the diamond sea
Sail into the heart of the lonely storm
And tell her that you'll love her eternally
Time takes its crazy toll
Mirror fallin' off the wall
You better look out for the looking glass girl
'cause she's gonna take you for a fall
Look into his eyes and you shall see
Why everything is quiet and nothing's free
I wonder how he's gonna make her smile
When love is running wild on the diamond sea
at this age and introspecting, these words ring so much more deep now
I heard "The Diamond Sea" live at Sziget Festival '96, it remains one of my favorite, defining concert experiences ever, it was well nigh transcendental...
Great song from the unsold-out band in the history of Rock!
Coming down on acid in high school had this song on repeat trying to sleep on my friends bedroom floor, went some strange places
Like what ? Sleepin in his washroom floor?
I know exactly what you mean, the 90s were great!!
This was my meditation music
can't sleep on acid... that's what the junk is for...
wow
i love how this song ends with a noise, while most sonic youth songs start with noise. the dissonance created here is pure perfection
Agreed....I love the sounds in this...all of them...also...i made this and u maybe you'll like it ua-cam.com/video/h_g8X0q5cyM/v-deo.html
Only SY could write and play a song like this! They proved that they could play it for ever! We miss you !
the wonderful noise that makes me cry!!! THANK YOU SONIC YOUTH!!!
I listen to it every night before I fall a sleep. Sometimes if I have time I read "In Cold Blood" and than fall in tranquility of it all. For me it's like lullaby...
This was the first time I heard it and I was amazed that after it finished I was very relaxed: I'm normally so wired.
I can’t think of any other song that makes me feel the way this song makes me feel. The way this song builds in the last 12 minutes to that moment of utter chaos is just beautiful. Just put in headphones and stare at the ceiling
My favorite sonic youth track, so probably my favorite track period.
In the wings, i experienced sonic youth Perform this song @ summersalt Adelaide, Australia 1996 just like the album version, epic power poetry & beauty
Just beautiful.
I got into Sonic Youth late. In ignorance, in the early 90's, I had a chance to see them play in Amherst but instead hitch-hiked hundreds of miles North to Ottawa to see the Vibrators play a totally lack lustre gig in a local bar. Silly me. I was in my 30's by the time I fell for this band. And it took me a couple years thereafter to appreciate this song. But now it's one of my faves.
Sad that it's finally all over. But thanks for all the great albums. And thanks for this song.
No worries Jj, just enjoy the moment. I'll be 34 next month and I just got hooked on SY a few years ago. I grew up in a conservative area of Ohio and SY was waaayyyy...outside of the norm. Now I live in Dayton and alternative rock, i.e. the Pixies, Breeders and of course Guided By Voices, are my linchpins of rock and roll. Just roll with it and enjoy!
It's never too late Jj. I live in little ol' New Zealand I have to say Sonic Youth is the act I have seen the most times live... be it a smokey basement with a lazyboy and headphones or a summers day spent at the beach this song is nothing but good memories....
Cuando vuelva a escuchar esta obra maestra quiero recordar como me sentí este y los otros días pasados.
Deseo de corazón que al volver este pasando por mejores momentos y días.
E agora?
This tune is complete badassery! I drifted away & am no longer sure I’m me.
I feel much more myself listening to this song, i'm not even kidding
Quand tout démarre.Progression musicale éruptive.Intensité sous-jascente,envol, basse et contre-chants. Ou le premier gros riff qui défouraille,retourne l'estomac jusqu'aux outrages ultimes et voilà le hachoir-tomates en pleine mise en place, délicates de sons INOUÏS de stridence, de percus ajustées et autres guitares sans voix. Une accalmie selon nos folies enregistrées. Un cliquetis avant l'envol de la lave. Nos écoutilles à jouir, nos perceptions,si diverses. Des vibrations ou nôtres. Impossible d'ajouter des mots à la musique. J'y parviens selon une faconde .Modeste. Un régal de nos inspirations à hurler. Mon super-dégueuloir. Jusqu’au tréfonds de nos turpitudes créatrices. Je suis triste que les yo ignorants aies retenus une attention particulière, c'est ainsi...L'essentiel est surtout ailleurs. Juste écouter. Musique Maestro. La vôtre qui devient mienne. Ce volcan.Aux larmes incandescentes. Quand la musique brûle, à condition de la capter.Etre heureux. Juste écouter ce plaisir chaotique. Frénésie. Nos corps à la transe.
Many years later I rediscovered this on a mini disc player. Memories and music from years past rediscovered. Does not hold a candle to what is on terrestrial radio today. I am 61 and still love it.
This song has a special place in my heart, and it will be there forever!
I forgot i even had music on. I was busy being productive for once 👍👍👍👍👍👍 now its on smooth sailing spaceship mode. Cruisin broadway in outer space. Before i think too deep in that ill go back to gettin er done! Thanx man 💋❤
just thinking about the lyrics puts tears in my eyes
i listened to this album as a tape, on constant repeat, on a Walkman, in 1996 when finishing my honours Engineering thesis ... i got it done, and so did Sonic Youth. I salute them - this music is still majestic, epic, engrossing and visceral, 25 years later.
Was incredibly fortunate to see them perform this at reading 1996..
My god....the most incredible gig I've ever witnessed..
And I've witnessed many ❤
All these years later this song still takes me somewhere else a place i dont want to come back from amazing.
this brings so many good memories of the time when i was young as hell tripping way too much on lsd listening to SY all the time
It warms my heart to read all of these related stories in the comment section. As for me - it's simply the best tune of the 90s. Legendary band, an everlasting wellspring of wilderness and creativity, and a late gem of the true underground.
Just get back together one last time and play this in my face that I may die peacefully. Jesus.
biffbuttsavage they did Coachella a few years back, OMG fucking A++++ in of the best shows I have ever seen
Shred Durst I deed my friend.
Never marry your bandmates.
@@FGSRFunLol how about never cheat on your partner
YES
I love this song...One of my favorite albums is Daydream Nation, but this song takes it to another level!
Lo mejor de lo mejor
I believe this is SY's masterpiece album - unmatched across all their works.
Their whole catalog is a masterpiece.
Un truc de dingue dés lors que la voix finis et rejaillis par bonheur et joie. My daugther propose me her sound ,that sound, i hear that sound, découverte intégrale and i discover " la mère de diamants". L'amer ou la mer de sels gemmes, jeux de mots idiots. Tiraillez les sons, Garçons .Rompre. Le délire progressif survient. Harmonies contenues. Expérimentations. La tête, au fur et à mesure; celle qui s'envole. Stridences et vrombissements en appoint, un contre-chant puis l'incroyable chaos savamment orchestré. Putain!!!!!Que c'est bon . Un embryon écervelé, lavé de toutes certitudes .Energies en guitares pleines, entières, défouraillantes!!! superbe inspiration. Un groupe et sa composition. En avant. Musique!!!
An enigma. Always good every once in a while they created som cracking, timeless tunes. On their day perfect
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT THE NOISE MADE ME CRY OF JOY!!!!!
Epic song. The controlled noise interlude is awesome, and then the song wraps itself back around. I love Sonic and that they allow their songs to breathe in and out.
A dark but awakening time for me in those Prague years.
I own a washing machine.
I actually own one too. What a crazy coincidence.
thought i was the only one
I own two and I keep them on the front porch.
I don't own one, that's why I listen to this album instead
@@sweettendercharles1556 dries my clothes right up
Looking for this song for 20 years.
glad that you found it
Your user name -a1 is the word I have been trying to figure out from my husband's hearsay how to spell and pronounce for the last 19 years. I searched Italian dictionaries for him with no success.
And for the rest of my life...
I remember my brother had this CD. I still love this song.
This is a portal into an entire universe of music...
i think this too?...maybe? ua-cam.com/video/bCnocG3ZzoQ/v-deo.html
I would like to become this song
I identify as this song
You would be perfect :)
\\You are become this song//
nice dude
I would like to become , The Laughing Cavalier ............. Frans Hals.
Laying on the blood crystallized sand on the shores of the diamond sea lost in the lonely storm.. Heaven knows I'm miserable now..
I love that Smiths song too
Blessed are the trip takers.
they are if they listen to this ua-cam.com/video/bCnocG3ZzoQ/v-deo.html
sonic youth is the best band that I have discovered on youtube
ummm...ahem...ua-cam.com/video/bCnocG3ZzoQ/v-deo.html
so glad other people love sonic youth like me
heck yeah....this is me..what do you think?....ua-cam.com/video/bCnocG3ZzoQ/v-deo.html
This is probably my favorite track of Sonic Youth from that era. First listening to this some 25 years ago I wan't fond of the melody of the first part, then it got to me, but I've ALWAYS LOVED the impro of the last part of this track. Epic and damaging. Love it.
I had this cd given to me with a bunch of old bad cds,unless you like amateur local music. it only added to the moment, when after sime sifting through garbage, I found this.
Pura nostalgia...passei minha adolescência ouvindo essa música maravilhosa!!! Tocava bastante na Brasil 2000 FM SP! 👏🏻👏🏻❤️
yoyoyoyoyo yoyoyo yoyoo
what...what....what....what...what...what...what
I have a cat on my lap and this song..i don't ask for much but I sure as hell get it.
#relate
are you saying you're getting head from that cat?
The Diamond Sea seems like a surreal metaphor for schizophrenia. This song is obviously extremely schizophrenic. It starts with a moderate beat and has a mental break and things seem to slow down and become very spacey and it makes you feel like things are unreal. I read somewhere that if Kim would have taken the helm on this track it wouild be stretched out much longer probably a whole hour long. You can thank Kim Gordon for these super long passages of unprepared noise bliss. Thurston was more straight forward and liked the fast punk/noise/pop aspects more than the long passages like you would hear here. This is right up there with Too and Dirty for 90s albums. Though A Thousand Leaves has Instrumental passages they're nothing like this. This song does have a youthful yet pessimistic sound and I can picture someone swimming in a sea of gems, it's weird. I guess it would be a hallucination.
*would
*Goo
Wonderfully written, Kaylyn. It takes so many directions really, I guess that counts for the 'schizo' part in some ways - it's a sound painting that demands a lot off you and grabs you by the pores, and yet it's pure beauty. Whether it's a surreal metaphor for schizophrenia, I wouldn't know. I wouldn't like it to be, really. But it's one hell of a moment in the soundtrack of one's life.
Great analysis of the song, however, it was actually Thurston who was more of a fan of longer and less straight-forward songs, despite also liking the punkier ones too! To quote him: "If I was the leader as much as people say I am, every song would be 20 minutes long."
I've always looked upon the song title from the point of view of the old Buddhist metaphor of the Diamond Sea as the cosmic ocean of being...makes just as much sense I think...nice analogy tho'...cheers.
Untoward
The diamond sea I also heard is a term for riches. "He swam in a sea of diamonds." But who knows.